Rodgers a Role Model, Like It or Not

When I was a little kid, for every single sports team I could choose a number for I would choose #12. Even though I didn’t play football, I had to have Aaron Rodgers’ number on my back when I was out on the field. 

Before I had a favorite soccer player or soccer team it was all about Packers football and the team’s #12. I remember struggling to stay awake on a Monday morning in fourth grade because my dad and I would stay up and watch the Packers game.

Although I may no longer to stay up to watch the Packers and my jersey number has taken three times of a cut to #4, I can still remember the profound effect Rodgers had on me. 

If you asked me which company gave the best insurance, I would have said State Farm because Rodgers was its spokesperson. And when we kids lined up to play recess football, I was always the quarterback. 

Perhaps the most Wisconsin-specific sports news to come out of the pandemic was Aaron Rodgers’ choice not to get the COVID vaccine, which catapulted to the national level along with other sports vaccination stories like Kyrie Irving. I’m not here to argue whether or not they should have got the vaccine per se, but I am here to argue that they have a duty to be a positive role model for those who follow them.

People love to keep the spheres of sports and pretty much anything else separate from politics, social issues and prudent health practices. Athletes are often belittled for sharing their political and worldly views, being told to “stick to their sport” and stay out of politics. However, athletes these days have been doing quite the opposite.

Athletes like Colin Kaepernick, with his controversial choice to kneel during the national anthem, have recently been launched to the forefront of the national media. Even before the days of Twitter, athletes like John Carlos and Tommie Smith were using their platforms to fight for positive social change.

To argue that athletes have no effect on the general public, and especially on young children, would be naive. Walk inside any kindergarten classroom and ask the students what they want to be when they grow up, and what will you hear time and time again from many? Football player. Athlete. Soccer player. Dancer. Skater. Athletes can play a huge role in kids’ lives.

Athletes and their public choices matter as much off the field as it does on the field. With the introduction of social media and an overall higher status of celebrity given to famous athletes, we now know more about our heroes than we ever did. It’s important that athletes with a platform make sure they present themselves in a way that is replicable and positive for the children who look up to them.

And I think that, for the most part, they do. In particular, I commend the NFL for the effort they put into broadcasting their players’ good deeds. Whenever I am watching a game, they often begin and/or end commercial efforts with news of the players giving back to people in need or being out in their community. They also nominate a player every year for the Man of the Year award.

Circling back to Rodgers, whether or not you think he made the correct decision choosing not to get vaccinated, you cannot argue that he let down his team. Rodgers is one of the most famous athletes in America whose influential platform is one on which I’d wish he would set a better example. The benefits of vaccination have been well reported and the unvaccinated have been filling hospitals. Rodgers let those around him down. Hopefully, he and other athletes in his situation can learn to take their influence into consideration instead of just thinking of themselves.